I ordered a set of nine WS2812 rings a while back (60, 48, 40, 32, 24, 16, 12, 8, 1), and finally got them mounted in a frosted glass and metal wall-hung lamp body. I 3D printed a frame for the LED rings, to keep each ring the same distance from the glass for even diffusion.
Since the outer ring has 60 LEDs, I plan to port over some clock patterns and NTP time sync soon, but for now I just have it running my ESP8266 FastLED WebServer sketch. I think Mark’s Pride and ColorWaves patterns look amazing on it!
@Jeremy_Spencer Thanks! I can share the frame files (STL and/or Fusion 360), if you’d like them. I think I got the lamp body at IKEA, but now I can’t find it.
@Jason_Coon - You are doing some very amazing stuff. I really like it!
I noticed that you use male headers soldered to the pads of the each of the rings. Are you using jumper wires to connect each ring to the next ring make a large strip connected to a MCU or are you connecting each ring to a MCU?
@Ken_White : Yeah, I used male headers instead of soldering wires directly to the pads in case I want to use the rings in something else in the future. I debated on using 90 degree headers, but went with straight for a slightly lower profile. I doesn’t matter in this project, but might in the future.
I am using female jumper wires to connect the data out of each ring to the data in of the next ring, and to connect each ring to power and ground on a perma-proto board. In code, I’m treating it as one strip. I haven’t taken any pictures of the insides, but will the next time I have it apart.
Great work Jason! I’ve been thinking about buying those rings for a long time but always hesitated in the end. Your video made me rethink that decision in a an eye blink and hit the order button without any more hesitation I’ll most likely use frosted acrylic as a front plate and design a 3D printed enclosure (maybe with veneer outside). Thanks for always being an inspiration!
PS: What power supply are you using? I don’t trust the cheap no name Chinese 5v 10a bricks but have a 5v 12a Mean Well DIN mounted power supply laying around that I might use for this lamp.
@Kjetil_Eik Thank you! I’ve had pretty good luck so far with these 5V 5A, 10A, & 15A power supply bricks. I keep an eye on them while testing, and never run them at max current, using FastLED power management. I wouldn’t mind paying more for a reputable sourced enclosed brick style power supply. I’ve stayed away from open frame and exposed contact power supplies, since my projects are all fairly small and need to be kid safe.
@Jason_Coon ,
Congratulations on yet another spectacular and mesmerising build.
First animation looks like those recent Nasa images of Saturn’s north pole. Serene yet far out!
Light diffusion (frosted glass?) looks perfect. It makes those twinkles quite ethereal.
Quick question: How do you film your builds so neatly?
I can’t seem to get it. I somehow mislaid my proper camera and am currently stuck with my mobile. Whatever the glossy adds say, that devil device enjoys nothing more than focusing on things which don’t exists (fairies, I think, but alas still no proof), and over-exposing any LED pattern change like some nuke just went off in the neighbour’s garden. Obviously, this tends to make for rather poor viewing.
I would be grateful for any wisdom/advice/tips/tricks you might be willing to share to properly film LEDs in all their shiny blinking glory (e.g. a proper camera? low LED brightness? manual focus? small aperture? something else like post-processing voodoo?)
